Since becoming president of baseball operations for the Dodgers in 2014, there is one word (two, actually) that does not exist in Andrew Friedman’s vocabulary; likewise for soon-to-be fourth-year Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “Everyday player.”

Simply put, each of the nine positions in the Dodgers daily starting line-up have, for the most part, been platooned in or out depending which arm the opposing starting pitcher – and relievers – throw with.

Not anymore … sort of.

Although Friedman didn’t actually come right out and say the words “everyday player” during Saturday’s FanFest event at Dodger Stadium, he got about as close as you will ever hear him get to uttering them when asked if recently acquired free agent outfielder A.J. Pollock would be the Dodgers every day center fielder .

“We envision him playing centerfield,” said Friedman.

That’s it. That’s as close as you will probably ever get to actually hearing Friedman say “everyday player. He did, however, continue on with a rather long-winded non-answer about what to expect in 2019, including a rather detailed account as to why the Dodgers signed the 31-year-old Hebron, Connecticut native to a five-year / $60 million contract this past week.

“Obviously he’s missed some time in the last few years, and as we dug into it, the question is, is it predicted as we look forward?” Friedman began. “And like [Pollock] said, most of [his injuries] have been impact-type injuries. He’s had one soft tissue injury, and you get into how well the guy takes care of himself, how clean does he live, eat, and those things that factor into player health. And as we dug into it, we felt really good about that he does everything that he possibly can to stay on the field, to the extent that he gets hurt or someone else gets hurt – that’s kind of a hallmark of our team – we have depth and versatility to be able to figure that out.

“And as we looked ahead to 2019 and beyond, we’ve got a number of left-handed hitters that are under control for awhile, we’ve got some left-handed hitters coming, [we] didn’t have as much from the right side,” Friedman continued. “And as we looked at 2019 specifically, we felt like we were going to be a very dynamic offensive team against right-handed pitching, and against left-handed pitching we weren’t going to be as good. And so, to try to balance that out a little bit, obviously if you have to be better against one side you’d rather it be verses right-handed pitching being that you face it more often.

“But I think a big focus for us this off-season has been on how to achieve more consistency,” he added. “I think the team last year was the most talented team I’ve ever been around, but for a host of reasons – some bad luck, some real we weren’t as consistent – and I think the big thing for us is to avoid the games where we score zero, one, or two runs, as often as we can score three or more and we will win a lot of games doing that, especially with our pitching staff.

“And for us, it’s just about trying to be more consistent, and we feel like A.J. fits in really well with that, not just in 2019, but also as we look ahead.”

How’s that for a concise answer that completely skirted the question?

Fortunately, Dave Roberts’ answer was far more direct and actually answered the question as to whether or not Pollock will be platooned in centerfield.

“No, he’s certainly not,” Roberts answered without any hesitation. “I don’t think that you go out and sign a player like that to even bring in the word platoon. You look at last year and he hit right-handers better than he hit left-handers, so he’s a guy that I think he’s going to play, he’s going to play every day.

“But I think that the idea of giving him days off, getting ahead of things with the rigors of a long season, I think that that’s something that I’m going to have a conversation with him,” added Roberts. “But when you’re talking about every day versus not every day, he’s an everyday player.”

There you have it.

Play Ball!

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